The Budget, good, bad, green or what?

5.04.00pm GMT Wed 22nd Mar 2006

Today Gordon Brown presented his tenth Budget, he is claiming it is a 'Green Budget' and a 'Budget for jobs' I am not sure it is either and worrying that what he has done today he thought was 'Green' - shame it has taken his ten Budgets to even acknowledge the environment. As with all his Budgets it could have been far braver, I think Labour's first mistake was sticking to the Tory spending plans for the first two years they were in office and their lack of ambition ever since.

Unsurprisingly duty of beer went up, but not on cider (thanks Gordon), tobacco also went up, though petrol was not increased this year. The so-called 'Green' measures were mainly the increased in Vehicle Excise Duty for 'Gaz-Guzzlers' up to £210 and a zero rate for cars with the lowest carbon emissions, I am not sure the type of people who buy 'gaz-guzzlers' will be put off by what is quite a small increase. Also being 'Green' he has provided £50 million for micro-generation tools (wind turbines, solar heating) for homes and business, which is good news - however 'Green Taxes' have actually shrunk as a proportion of the economy.

Yet again he let down the UK's pensioners, in fact making them worse off - the £200 bribe that was given as a Council Tax sweetener before the General Election has been discontinued. There was a lot that could have been in this Budget, there is little new money for the NHS or Education and no attempt to redress the widening gap between rich and poor.

In conclusion I think it was a bad Budget, with no ambition, but there is a bit in Brown can try to spin to claim his environmental credentials before standing in any Labour Leadership election.